The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power said the reactors would be scrapped, and warned that the operation to contain the nuclear crisis could last months Photograph: Ho/Reuters

Japanese officials have conceded that the battle to salvage four crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been lost. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco], said the reactors would be scrapped, and warned that the operation to contain the nuclear crisis, now well into its third week, could last months. Tepco's announcement came as new readings showed a dramatic increase in radioactive contamination in the sea near the atomic complex. The firm's chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, said it had "no choice" but to scrap the Nos 1-4 reactors, but held out hope that the remaining two could continue to operate. It is the first time the company has conceded that the at least part of the plant will have to be decommissioned.

(Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad sought to deflect the greatest challenge to his 11-year rule by mobilizing tens of thousands of Syrians in mass rallies across the country on Tuesday in response to pro-democracy protests. Assad also accepted the resignation of his government, ahead of a long-awaited speech in which he is expected to lift emergency law which has been in place for nearly half a century since his Baath Party took power in a coup.

According to the Italian journalist Franco Bechis, plans to spark the Benghazi rebellion were initiated by French intelligence services in November 2010. As Miguel Martinez from the progressive ComeDonChisciotte website observes, these revelations which have the blessing of the Italian secret services should be interpreted as the sign of existing rivalries within the European capitalist camp.

Voltaire Network wishes to point out that Paris promptly paired up with London in its scheme to overthrow Colonel Khadafi (Franco-British expeditionary force). This plan was recalibrated in the context of the Arab revolutions and taken over by Washington, which imposed its own objectives (counter-revolution in the Arab world and landing AfriCom on the Black continent). Therefore, the current coalition arises from a diversity of ambitions, which accounts for its internal contradictions. The timeline of events which set the stage for the military intervention against Libya is presented below.

(Reuters) - Japan appeared resigned on Monday to a long fight to contain the world's most dangerous atomic crisis in 25 years after high radiation levels complicated work at its crippled nuclear plant.Engineers have been battling to control the six-reactor Fukushima complex since it was damaged by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami that also left more than 27,000 people dead or missing across Japan's devastated northeast.A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked the region on Monday, the latest in a series of aftershocks, and officials warned it would trigger a 50-cm (two feet) tsunami wave.Radiation at the nuclear plant has soared in recent days. Latest readings on Sunday showed contamination 100,000 times normal in water at reactor No. 2 and 1,850 times normal in the nearby sea.

Σάββατο, 26 Μαρτίου 2011

Riad Muasses:“What is your position on France and President Sarkozy? France was the first country to recognise the Provisional Council.”Saif al-Islam Gaddafi:“Firstly Sarkozy must repay Libya the money he took for his election campaign. We financed his election campaign and we have all the details and we are ready to publish them. The first thing we ask of this clown Sarkozy is that he repay this money to the Libyan people. We helped him become president so that he would help the Libyan people but he has disappointed us. And very soon we will publish all the details and the documents and banking pay slips.“http://www.euronews.net/2011/03/16/exclusive-saif-al-gaddafi-wants-money-back-from-sarkozy/
------------------------------------
Δυό γάιδαροι μαλώνανε σε ξένο αχυρώνα..

Egyptian workers face US-backed counter-revolution

Bill Van Auken

The promulgation this week in Egypt of a decree banning strikes and protests has laid bare the real character of the military-controlled regime that succeeded the US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak.

According to AhramOnline, the decree: "criminalizes strikes, protests, demonstrations and sit-ins that interrupt private or state-owned businesses or affect the economy in any way. The decree-law also assigns severe punishments to those who call for or incite action, with the maximum sentence one year in prisons and fines of up to half a million pounds [US-$84,000]."

Cynicism is not a healthy sentiment, and as the late Molly Ivins pointed out, it absolutely wrecks good journalism. But watching events in the Middle East unfold these days makes it a pretty difficult point of view to avoid.

Let’s take the current U.S. bombing of Libya. The rationale behind United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 is to protect civilians from being beaten, shot up, and generally abused.

Παρασκευή, 25 Μαρτίου 2011

He added that many countries have agreed to provide credit backed by the Libyan sovereign fund, and the British government has also agreed to give the rebels access to 1.4 billion dinars ($1.1 billion) that London did not send to Gadhafi.also >. The puppet show in Libya has been set - here are the actors..

Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — A U.S.-based economist appointed finance minister in the Libyan rebels' first attempt at a government admits they have made mistakes, missed opportunities and shown disorganization — but he says they aren't short of cash, and they'll get better at their jobs.

Πέμπτη, 24 Μαρτίου 2011

Τετάρτη, 23 Μαρτίου 2011

The puppet show in Libya has been set. Actually it was set before the Libyan revolutionaries revolted against Qaddafi. They will soon have to face the bitter truth when these puppets will negotiate in their name and will sell Oil to their masters..

A coalition of opposition groups in Yemen has dismissed President Ali Abdullah Saleh's proposal of quitting power after organizing parliamentary elections by January 2012."The opposition rejects the offer as the coming hours will be decisive," Reuters quoted Mohammed al-Sabry, spokesman for the main umbrella opposition group, as saying on Tuesday. Saleh had previously vowed not to run for presidency after his current term finishes in 2013. He had once promised to leave office in 2005 and broken it, providing reasons not to be trusted. As pressure is mounting on Saleh, the opposition groups have given him a 48-hour ultimatum to step down.

Pro-Gaddafi protesters chant slogans and hold up signs as they protest against the international intervention in the war in Libya, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrives to meet Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo March 21, 2011.

Picture shows locals inspecting an American F-15 jet that crashed in a field near Benghazi.

The US military says an American warplane has crashed in Libya as Western coalition forces attack the north African country for the third consecutive night.

A spokesman for the US military Africa Command said on Tuesday that the F-15E Strike Eagle jet crashed in a field near the eastern city of Benghazi overnight. Karin Burzynski said the crash was likely caused by mechanical failure and not hostile fire. One crew member has been recovered and an operation is currently under way to recover the other one, said Ken Fidler, another spokesman for Africa Command.

Three top Yemeni army commanders have declared their support for anti-government protesters seeking the resignation of the country''s president, Ali Abudullah Saleh. Brigadier Ali Mohsen Saleh, the head of the north western military zone and the head of the first armoured division, said on Monday that he had deployed army units to protect the protesters.Two more commanders rallied behind Brigadier Saleh soon after.Addressing a news conference, Brigadier Saleh said: "Yemen today, is suffering from a comprehensive and dangerous crisis and it is widespread."Lack of dialogue and oppression of peaceful protesters in the pubclic sphere, resulted in crisis which has increased each day.

"And it is because of what I feel about the emotions of officers and leaders in the armed forces, who are an integral part of the people, and protectors of the people, I declare, on their behalf, our peaceful support of the youth revolution and their demands and that we will fulfil our duties."
The announcement came days after scores died when armed men fired at an anti-government protest in the capital Sanaa.
Several ministers resigned from the government after Friday'sviolence. Abdullah Alsaidi, Yemen's ambassador to the United Nations, also quit in protest over the killings.
Hakim Al Masmari, editor-in-chief of Yemen Post, told Al Jazeera that Monday's army defections spell the end for President Saleh. "It is officially over, now that 60 per cent of the army is allied with the protesters."For Ali Mohsin Saleh to annnouce this, it is a clear sign to President Saleh that the game is over and that he must step down now."It means the fall of the Yemeni army, by nightfall, we expect 90 per cent of the army to join Mohsin Saleh.

A report says that an airstrike has destroyed an administrative building of Libyan ruler Muammer Gaddafi's residence in Tripoli, as attacks by the foreign military alliance continue. The attacks took place on Sunday night in the south of the capital, Tripoli around Gaddafi's residence in the Bab al-Azizia, AFP reported.

--------------------

The head of the Arab League, who supported the idea of a no-fly zone, has criticised the severity of the bombardment."What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians," said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.Arab League support was a key factor in getting UN Security Council backing for the resolution authorising the move.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaks about Libya as he briefs reporters on board a military plane on Sunday en route to St. Petersburg, Russia.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has rejected targeting Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi himself as Western forces continue their airstrikes in Tripoli.

Gates repudiated on Sunday earlier remarks by his British counterpart Liam Fox, who suggested killing Gaddafi in the strikes, saying it would be "unwise" to set goals that could contradict provisions set forth in the UN Security Council resolution, AFP reported.

"I think that it's important that we operate within the mandate of the UN Security Council resolution," he stated.

The Pentagon chief, who was speaking on a US military plane en route to Russia, also warned of potential dangers on the battleground if the foreign forces embark on expansion of their goals.

Κυριακή, 20 Μαρτίου 2011

Obama's Women Pushed War Against Libya

Robert Dreyfuss

A report says that an airstrike has destroyed an administrative building of Libyan ruler Muammer Gaddafi's residence in Tripoli, as attacks by the foreign military alliance continue.

The attacks took place on Sunday night in the south of the capital, Tripoli around Gaddafi's residence in the Bab al-Azizia, AFP reported. One of his sons died in the raidhttp://www.presstv.ir/detail/170971.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------The Nation , March 19, 2011

So Obama’s women wanted war against Libya.

We’d like to think that women in power would somehow be less prowar, but in the Obama administration at least it appears that the bellicosity is worst among Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samantha Power. All three are liberal interventionists, and all three seem to believe that when the United States exercises military force it has some profound, moral, life-saving character to it. Far from it. Unless President Obama’s better instincts manage to reign in his warrior women—and happily, there’s a chance of that—the United States could find itself engaged in open war in Libya, and soon. The troika pushed Obama into accepting the demands of neoconservatives, such as Joe Lieberman, John McCain and The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, along with various other liberal interventionists outside the administration, such as John Kerry. The rode roughshod over the realists in the administration.

Bahraini Shia women hold up pictures of King Hamad and a slain activist during his funeral in the town of Sitra outside the capital, Manama on March 20, 2011.A former Bahraini lawmaker says that around 100 people have gone missing during the Manama-ordered crackdown on the countrywide popular revolution.“We don't know anything about them, we've asked hospital and ministry authorities and none of them are telling us anything about them,” said Hady al-Mussawy, formerly a parliamentarian with Al Wefaq, the country's largest political party. He made the comments during a short protest in front of the United Nations building in the capital, calling on the world body to make sure rescue medical services operate in the Persian Gulf kingdom.

The Arab League has strongly criticized the West's military air strikes on Libya, since they resulted in civilian casualties almost immediately after invasion.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa says the military intervention in Libya differs from a UN resolution that authorizes imposing a no-fly zone over the country. "What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians," he said on Sunday. Moussa said last week's UN resolution was meant to protect civilians against troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. The attacks on Libya started after US, European and Arab leaders backed military action against Libya following an emergency meeting in Paris on Saturday. Moussa has called for an emergency AL meeting to discuss the situation in the Arab world. The remarks come as the US and European forces have unleashed massive airstrikes and cruise missile attacks on oil-rich Libyan cities. France initiated the war hours before US and UK warships and submarines joined in. Libyan state television announced that 48 people were killed and 150 were wounded in the strikes, including civilians. It is the biggest Western military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Experts say the main motive behind the Western allies' attack is the vast oil reserves in the North African country.

The Libyan Rebellion:

The West's Cloak over the Gulf

by Sukant Chandan

Fidel Castro was right. The West was planning an attack on a sovereign third world nation imminently: Libya. Nothing like a good old war against brown and black people in Libya by the West to remind oneself of what Western civilisation is all about. Many of us who have been politically active since the 1990s are painfully aware of the trauma that humanitarian imperialism causes on peoples of the Global South. Libya has been one of the most controversial conflicts to have taken place in the Arab world, and the Goebbelsian propaganda machine of most of the media (except for Russia Today, which has been the only critical voice on Libya) has whipped up narrow-minded hysteria against Ghadafi, which has not helped anyone understand some of the more insidious things that are currently taking place. ..>>

Washington DC, March 15, 2011 – In the late winter of 2011, governments were for a few weeks falling like bowling pins all across the Middle East and far beyond. We are witnessing a massive orgy of deliberate destabilizations of previous client regimes on the part of the CIA, the State Department, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the various NGOs and foundations which follow their lead. This has taken the form of a mad rampage of attempted color revolutions, people power coups, putsches by camarillas of generals, and incipient civil wars in such countries as Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and others, with the tremors being felt as far away as Belarus and China. This tsunami of coups was signaled by three waves of document dumps by the “Wikileaks” limited hangout operation of the Anglo-American intelligence community, and has been supported and encouraged by the Obama regime up to the limits of what the traffic would bear in each case. During the most recent days, the time of the Libyan civil war, the old Suez 1956 coalition of aggressive and unreconstructed British and French neo-colonialists has also reemerged as a strange historical atavism.

1848: Giuseppe Mazzini, agent of the British Admiralty

The Anglo-American Empire is now undergoing a collapse phase, although not caused by debt as claimed by the reactionary academic and imperialist planner Niall Ferguson at the “Aspen Ideas Festival” last July – a gathering where calls were raised for an immediate attack on Iran.1 The overthrow of existing governments and the breakup of existing national states, wherever possible, is intended to put the brakes on this collapse by preventing the national states from taking timely political action to save themselves from the imperialist shipwreck by defecting to other power centers, reversing existing alliances. The Anglo-American plan is for a super-national empire over the planet, with a neo-feudal war of all against all on the ground.

Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) said early Saturday that some workers at the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have been exposed to radiation higher than the allowable dose.At a press conference, TEPCO officials said that the allowable upper limit of radiation was set at 100 microsievert for workers conducting an emergency operation.Several members of staff at the plant have been exposed to radiation higher than the limit while working outside the facilities buildings, they said.As radioactive leaks were an unprecedented emergency, the firm decided to raise the upper allowable doze to 150 microsievert, according to the TEPCO officials.And TEPCO has decided that these sufferers of excessive radiation will no longer be set to on-site tasks in the nuclear plant, local media reported.Faced with the risks and threats of radioactive leaks at the plant, the health ministry agreed to raise the upper limit to 250 microsievert for the plant staff in a bid to ensure they have adequate working hours, according to the reports

Παρασκευή, 18 Μαρτίου 2011

On March 17, 2011, Washington showed its true intentions by pushing through a U.N. Security Council resolution that amounts to a declaration of war on the government and people of Libya.

A U.S. attack is the worst possible thing that could happen to the people of Libya. It also puts the unfolding Arab revolutions, which have inspired people across North Africa and Western Asia, in the gravest danger.

The resolution goes beyond a no-fly zone. It includes language saying U.N. member states could "take all necessary measures" ... "by halting attacks by air, land and sea forces under the control of the Gadhafi regime."(CNN.com, Mar 17)

The new resolution not only calls for attacks on Libyan aircraft and air defenses, but authorizes the strafing and bombing of ground forces as well. The U.S. and French governments immediately announced that they were ready to go. Britain and Italy are aiding. In essence the former colonial powers have begun an armed attack on the Libyan government and its people, backing one side of a civil war.

Saudi forces have stormed a Manama's hospital where hundreds of people were receiving treatment for injuries suffered in clashes with government forces a day earlier.Saudi troops forced their way into Salmaniya hospital on Wednesday and did not allow doctors, nurses and relatives of the victims either to leave or to enter the building. The report comes as Bahraini police killed at least five protesters and wounded dozens more on Wednesday as they assaulted a peaceful protest camp in the capital's Pearl Square. The attack occurred two days after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar dispatched their armed forces to crisis-hit Bahrain to quash anti-government protests in the tiny Persian Gulf state. Foreign military intervention in Bahrain has concerned UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has called for a meaningful and broad-based national dialogue. The UN chief also urged Bahrain's regional neighbors and the international community to support a dialogue process and an environment conducive for credible reform in Bahrain. Bahraini opposition groups, including the main bloc al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, denounced the move as an invasion of the kingdom. The United States, which has its Fifth Fleet based there, has declinedto term the troops' move into Bahrain as invasion.

After the visit of U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Bahrain on Friday, landing on a day of huge political protests against a regime that has been a longtime U.S. ally the Saudi Arabia troops invade Bahrain to play the role of occupation forces against the uprising of the people of Bahrain.

Mr. Gates' visit—intended as a show of support for Bahrain's beleaguered royal king—was instantly complicated by the protests, in which police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up tens of thousands of protesters. Hundreds were injured. During his visit to the Gulf monarchy, the defense secretary is expected to take on an unusual diplomatic role, delivering a message of support to the ruling family while encouraging leaders to engage in dialogue with the opposition. Now with the invasion of Saudi Arabia the occupation forces are asked to play the role of suppression against the uprising challenging al khalifa

Given it is just days away from the election and a new government, most likely to be led by Fine Gael, many are probably wondering what exactly is the current state of Ireland and what are the prospects for recovery. In short, things are bad and a recovery is very unlikely. There are also wider and bigger global issues and we are unprepared and should be doing something about it now.

The only hope is that we have is that there is a public awakening to try and understand what has happened, where we are and the future we are hurtling towards. Only then, is there any possibility of some kind of social revolution to enable us to have any chance of coping with the challenges and by our actions, hopefully we may even trigger an European wide social transformation. But frankly the prospects of this positive development happening are zilch.